X-Men #22 - Review/Spoilers

[Arachne]

Oh? Didn't you read the synopsis for X-Force #40? Beast is now the most evil creature that has ever lived, and is sending evil clones of himself throughout the timelines, so that he can become a 'god-beast' intelligence. Seriously.

And I thought it had been revealed that Nature Girl was being controlled?

Yeah, but Curse undid that or tried to, at the cost of her own life, and Nature Girl didn't get better.

[charliehustle415]

so mutant medicine got completely hand-waved away?

I mean Marauders started as a series that dealt with the black market sales of mutant medicine, but nothing of consequence happened.

man, there were so many seeds but they're getting like a panel of resolution and we're off to the current writer's pet projects.

[Devaishwarya]

so mutant medicine got completely hand-waved away?

I mean Marauders started as a series that dealt with the black market sales of mutant medicine, but nothing of consequence happened.

man, there were so many seeds but they're getting like a panel of resolution and we're off to the current writer's pet projects.

How did they not realise that their mutant drugs were tampered with? Who's in charge of quality control? While the Marauders were of saving people millions of years in the past and Emma was busy doing ****-all along with the QC someone forgot to actually keep a close eye on their one true gift export.

[Uncanny X-Man]

I really enjoyed this latest issue. I think Duggan can be very good with character work when he narrows down his focus like he did with Firestar and Forge on this issue. It's a shame he can't quite balance that out with catching up with the rest of his cast, with Magik having been basically a non-presence throughout his run.

But I really enjoyed the "dark Fantastic Four" homage with the Orchis people at the beginning and their devious plan for the Krakoan drugs... the Fall is truly taking shape here and I can see why we can expect dark times ahead.

The highlight of the issue though would have to be Josh Cassara's artwork though, I really can't say enough good things about it. The villains, Angelica, Forge especially looked amazing here and I can't get enough of it.

[Diammandis]

How do they not realise that their mutant drugs were tampered with? Who's in charge of quality control.

they probably just don't know, it'd be easy to just explain that Orchis put a trace amount of whatever into their medicine supply so that they wouldn't notice that it was tampered with, it's not out of the realm of possibility when dealing with intelligent foes

[charliehustle415]

How do they not realise that their mutant drugs were tampered with? Who's in charge of quality control.

a lot this is so hackneyed, every writer is just doing there own thing without delving into the million open plot threads. it really reminds me of LOST and how that completely fell apart.

they probably just don't know, it'd be easy to just explain that Orchis put a trace amount of whatever into their medicine supply so that they wouldn't notice that it was tampered with, it's not out of the realm of possibility when dealing with intelligent foes

Yeah maybe way back in the beginning with Sinister? because the medicine directly comes from Krakoa itself from his flowers, unless they corrupted him how could they?

[lefthanded]

a lot this is so hackneyed, every writer is just doing there own thing without delving into the million open plot threads. it really reminds me of LOST and how that completely fell apart.



Yeah maybe way back in the beginning with Sinister? because the medicine directly comes from Krakoa itself from his flowers, unless they corrupted him how could they?

A big problem is that readers could see what would lead to the Fall of X, even back at the start: Orchis undermining Krakoa, politics between the QC seasons, and infighting among mutants.

Even though these were huge red flags at the inception, the X-writers did nothing to show Krakoa is trying to solve these problems. Instead, it was ignored, with Krakoa barreling head long into this wall.

And now, all of a sudden, these red flags are gonna cause the Fall of X. Big surprise.

[JB]

they probably just don't know, it'd be easy to just explain that Orchis put a trace amount of whatever into their medicine supply so that they wouldn't notice that it was tampered with, it's not out of the realm of possibility when dealing with intelligent foes

I do believe there's some inside help Orchis is getting but we'll see if that turns out to be true.

The flowers are grown in several places if I remember correctly even Arakko I think as that was one of the reasons why they decided to terraform Mars. They needed more farming space. So there may be several vulnerabilities in different locations to exploit.

[charliehustle415]

A big problem is that readers could see what would lead to the Fall of X, even back at the start: Orchis undermining Krakoa, politics between the QC seasons, and infighting among mutants.

Even though these were huge red flags at the inception, the X-writers did nothing to show Krakoa is trying to solve these problems. Instead, it was ignored, with Krakoa barreling head long into this wall.

And now, all of a sudden, these red flags are gonna cause the Fall of X. Big surprise.

Yeah exactly, you hit the nail right on the head.

I do believe there's some inside help Orchis is getting but we'll see if that turns out to be true.

The flowers are grown in several places if I remember correctly even Arakko I think as that was one of the reasons why they decided to terraform Mars. They needed more farming space. So there may be several vulnerabilities in different locations to exploit.

But remember Krakoa are a part of those flowers he can feel anything that is happening to them as if it were part of his body. I mean that's why there were those "no place" flowers that Krakoa couldn't sense or see, it just doesn't follow what has been set up.

[Devaishwarya]

Still...you would think they would have tighter security around their most prized and lucrative export. Especially after Whoredeculture broke in and stole some of it very early on.

As I'm typing this I can see how it would be frustrating for Hickman to have set up all those pertinent plot points only to have the collective X-slack band together and say they want to do their own thing for a while longer while completely ignoring everything that was logistically set-up already.

Seeing how this is turning out over the course of the next few months I'm reading Hickman's Inferno as a meta FU to the X-Office. Burn that **** down and let them deal with their mess.

[pkingdom]

Well, poor/non-existent security and oversight has been the norm since Day 1 of Krakoa, so I guess its par the course.

[Devaishwarya]

Pretty much. Xavier and some Krakoan families get murdered by Peacock Man's people in the second issue of X-Force and still there's no active security system (at least none that has been written as effective, and with Forge "holding back" all this time) so...

I've said it before...but I think focusing all that time and energy and effort on XoS so early in the era when they should have been developing, building and stabalising Krakoa's Mutant Nation presence was a huge misstep that really pushed them of course. They all worked together to tell a ridiculous story that really doesn't have much to do with Krakoa at all, now imagine if they had worked together to truly develop Krakoa as a Nation Haven for Mutants imagine how more impactful this coming Fall would have been. As it stands...it's just another shitty chapter in the ongoing Krakoan book of shitty chapters.

[charliehustle415]

I'm reading Hickman's Inferno as a meta FU to the X-Office. Burn that **** down and let them deal with their mess.

this is exactly how I read Inferno as well.

lock yourself into a status quo until you die of stagnation.

the Marvel method for the last 20 years.

[Sutekh]

But remember Krakoa are a part of those flowers he can feel anything that is happening to them as if it were part of his body. I mean that's why there were those "no place" flowers that Krakoa couldn't sense or see, it just doesn't follow what has been set up.

Oh, I doubt that Krakoa remains attached to / can sense parts that have been processed into drugs, or even just fruit that have been eaten and are being digested. "I can feel you dissolving me in your colon, because you ate a fruit grown on the island. I think you have a polyp..." Parts that are still attached and alive, sure, but after a flower or fruit is plucked and separated from the rest, let alone mashed up, mixed with various stabilizing compounds and pressed into a pill, Krakoa's no longer in the building, IMO, just as I do not retain any awareness of / connection to parts of me that separate from the whole, from fingernails and hair to various expelled bodily fluids to a possible severed limb.

I'm also not convinced that Krakoa retains a connection to plants grown from him on Arakko or the Savage Land. His connection to the gates, even across great distances, is an exceptional ability, and the individual personalities of Krakoa and Arakko, formerly a single entity, tends to reinforce that once separated, a part of Krakoa is generally no longer in contact with / a part of the whole Krakoan personality.

From what we've seen, the tampering would have to happen to Krakoa itself, the plants right there on the island, for him to notice. Plants grown elsewhere, even if from Krakoan rootstock, probably are not in any way connected to Krakoa, and he wouldn't necessarily know anything about plants in the Savage Land or Arakko (and, IMO, those places are probably not being tampered with either. It would be MUCH easier to tamper with the actual pills in their bottles, than the plants they are grown from, just inject something nasty into the bottles and this Tylenol will cure your headache forever...).

THAT ALL SAID, I am 100% sure that if we tied up three different X-writers not-named-Hickman and asked them about this, we'd get three different contradictory answers about how Krakoa does or does not work. So, you might be right!

I do believe there's some inside help Orchis is getting but we'll see if that turns out to be true.

Seems like the sort of skullduggery that the Struckers might be up to, although there are plenty of other shady mutants hanging around Krakoa. Selene has nothing to lose if Krakoa crashes and burns, she's quite capable of living without it, and has thrived in it's absence for millennia. Regardless of her current state, she could well have poisoned the well many months before, and even used her psychic connection to Krakoa (to monitor it's feeding) to mask shenanigans.

[Shadowcat]

The issue was…middling, but the art was better than what I’m used to from Cassara.

https://comic-watch.com/comic-book-r...nd-of-my-tears